# Yap

> Yap is a free macOS toolkit (a menu-bar app, the `yap` CLI and an agent skill) that gives Claude Code, Codex and other agent harnesses the eyes, ears and hands to record, understand and edit video locally. It has no built-in agent and makes zero editorial decisions: the agent decides, Yap supplies evidence and precise, non-destructive operations.

Requirements: Apple Silicon, macOS 26 or newer. Linux and Docker cannot run the native app or capture media.

## Install

If your user asked you to install Yap, the request is:

    Install Yap (the Mac app, which sets up the yap CLI and skill) by following https://justyap.io/llms.txt

You install the app; the app installs the rest. The [installation procedure](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dzhng/yap/main/skills/yap/references/installation.md) has the exact commands: check the Mac, resolve the latest release's tag once and download its `SHA256SUMS`, `release.json` and kit from that tag (the `latest/download` links can briefly mix two releases right after one is published), checksum-verify them, place Yap.app in /Applications or ~/Applications, and open it. Within a few seconds the app installs `~/.local/bin/yap`, the yap skill for every agent it finds, and a PATH line when one is missing. Then verify with `~/.local/bin/yap cli.status`, `skill.status` and `service.health` (use the full path: the PATH line reaches only new shells) and report a short checklist. [Agent setup](https://github.com/dzhng/yap#agent-setup) is the same in the README.

Facts that change what you do:

- Don't copy a launcher or run `npx skills add` yourself; the app owns both. Use the manual steps in the installation procedure only when `cli.status` or `skill.status` reports a problem.
- The app refuses to run outside /Applications or ~/Applications and offers to move itself.
- Releases are not notarized. A download made with `curl` is never blocked; a browser download needs System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Never remove quarantine attributes or disable Gatekeeper.
- Installation does not grant screen, microphone or camera permissions; the user grants them on first recording.

## Use

- [yap skill](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dzhng/yap/main/skills/yap/SKILL.md): how to record, understand and edit video for the user with the toolkit. Start a fresh agent session after the app installs it so it is discovered (`/yap` in Claude Code, `$yap` in Codex).

## Optional

- [README](https://github.com/dzhng/yap): what Yap is and what people make with it.
- [Positioning](https://github.com/dzhng/yap/blob/main/positioning.md): what is possible today and what isn't yet.
- [Latest release](https://github.com/dzhng/yap/releases/latest): the app kit, its release.json receipt and SHA256SUMS.